Alison M Marchbank, Charles Darwin University

by A/Prof Tamara Walsh and Kathryn Thomas

Executive summary

All Australian children are required by law to attend school, including children with disabilities and other special needs. For children with special needs, inadequate special education services can have significant impacts on their lifelong learning capacity. The Education Acts in the States and Territories outline the kinds of services that can be made available to children with special needs in schools, but they stop short of providing a right to accessible or appropriate education for children.

When Jeanette Purkis was first diagnosed with autism two decades ago, the condition was stigmatised, and poorly understood. From prison to parenthood, she shares her story of surviving, thriving, and learning to accept herself.

As a child, I was very odd. Everyone would say to my mum, 'What's she doing now?' because I was a very energetic child and I was quite naughty, very determined.

When I went to high school, things got very bad. People hated me. People really bullied me and I was the least popular child.

By Irena Ceranic

Jemma Victoria Lilley, 25, and Trudi Clare Lenon, 42, were charged after police found the body of Aaron Pajich under a freshly laid concrete slab in the backyard of their home on Broughton Way in Orelia.Two women accused of murdering an 18-year-old man in Perth's southern suburbs have appeared in court.

The Perth Magistrates Court was told Mr Pajich, who had Asperger's syndrome, was killed on June 13, the same day he was last seen at a taxi rank at the Rockingham City Shopping Centre.

Lilley and Lenon were not required to enter a plea and have been remanded to face Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court next Wednesday.

One of the accused women had studied with Mr Pajich at an educational facility in Kwinana.

Donna Sharpe

A Maitland mother has gone to the Human Rights Commission claiming her special needs child has been bullied and discriminated against because of a massive gap in the education system between children with and without disabilities.

The mother, Robyn, who requested we only use her first name, said her son, 13, had been the target of discrimination, excluded from school excursions and continually bullied.

Norman Hermant

Parents of disabled people in group homes say they are concerned a culture of covering up serious incidents and avoiding police scrutiny pervades the sector.